Sport - Sports : General

Thrissur in title clash

KOTTAYAM: Thrissur shocked defending champion Thiruvananthapuram and entered the women’s final of the 53rd State senior basketball championship at the Nehru stadium here on Saturday.

Thrissur, mostly trainees from the SAI centre, defeated the experienced Thiruvananthapuram side, which was mostly made of KSEB and State players, 60-56.

In a match in which fortunes swung either way, Thrissur’s youthful exuberance put in good stead. Thiruvananthapuram paid the price for overconfidence and sloppy play.

The Thrissur girls defended and collected their rebounds well and made life difficult for the defending champion. Moreover, Thrissur’s switch from defence to attack was quick and on many occasions caught its rival napping.

Thiruvananthapuram after a strong start in the first quarter faded away and the loss of Litty Mathew in the fourth quarter didn’t help its cause.

Merlin Baby and K.R. Neethu with their all-round game made substantial contributions to Thrissur’s win. For Thiruvananthapuram, captain Sonia Joseph played her heart out but lacked support from her team-mates.

Ernakulam men moved into the final crushing Kasaragod 77-56 in the semifinals. Kasaragod failed to repeat Thursday’s heroics and went down without a fight.

The results:

Men: semifinals: Ernakulam 77 (R. Manoj 17, Subash J. Shenoy 14, Abhilash 14) bt Kasaragod 56 (Gopalakrishnan 19, C.V. Ratheesh 15, Shabu Kumar 13). Quarterfinals: Pathanamthitta 73 (V.G. Ajith 18, Jijo Thankachan 15, Albin Baby 10) bt Alappuzha 45 (Edison 16); Thiruvananthapuram 46 (Monish Wilson 16, Vijobi Vakkachan 10) bt Malappuram 28 (E.S. Dibumon 14).

Women: semifinals: Thirssur 60 (Merlin Baby 16, K.R. Neethu 13, Diya Susan 10) bt Thiruvananthapuram 56 (Sonia Joseph 20, Litty Mathew 10). Quarterfinals: Kollam 74 (P. Smija 27, Kenny Susan 15) bt Ernakulam 58 (K. Pravisha 18, M.D. Lisha 16). — Principal Correspondent

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